Transparency – ONEhttps://www.one.org/us
Join the fight against extreme povertyFri, 09 Dec 2016 21:23:18 +0000en-UShourly1A momentous victory for transparencyhttps://www.one.org/us/2016/07/08/a-momentous-victory-for-transparency/
https://www.one.org/us/2016/07/08/a-momentous-victory-for-transparency/#respondFri, 08 Jul 2016 19:38:41 +0000https://www.one.org/us/?p=131242“If at first you don’t succeed, Dust yourself off and try again.” These lyrics from the late, great singer Aaliyah could serve as an anthem of sorts for a US transparency law that has traveled a long, dusty road to achieve its aim of helping end extreme poverty.

Well at long last, there’s great news. That law, Section 1504 of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, is finally set to go into effect. Last week it finished the last leg of its journey when the Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC) issued a final rule that will implement the law.

The offices of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Photo credit: WPPilot/Wikimedia Commons)

The law requires publicly listed oil, gas and mining companies in the US to publicly disclose the payments they make to governments around the world for the extraction of natural resources. That increased transparency will provide critical information to citizens in some of the world’s poorest countries, enabling them to hold their governments accountable for spending that money on things that will improve their lives, like schools and hospitals.

Why has it taken six long years for the law, which was passed way back in July 2010, to go into effect? Some oil companies did their best to hinder and weaken the law’s implementation and preserve the status quo of secrecy.

But thanks in part to the raised voices of ONE members, the SEC didn’t give in to the efforts of those oil companies. The SEC received two petitions from ONE members with a combined 260,000 signatures, as well as hundreds of individual letters, urging it to release a strong rule to implement the transparency law.

It worked. The law is finally set to go into effect and begin helping the world’s poor ensure that their governments spend much-needed revenues from oil, gas and minerals on such things as life-saving medicines, education, clean water and other critical programs that will help end extreme poverty.

It’s been a long fight to achieve this victory—thank you for joining us in this struggle.

]]>https://www.one.org/us/2016/07/08/a-momentous-victory-for-transparency/feed/0FATAA is on its way to the president’s desk!https://www.one.org/us/2016/07/06/fataa-is-on-its-way-to-the-presidents-desk/
https://www.one.org/us/2016/07/06/fataa-is-on-its-way-to-the-presidents-desk/#respondWed, 06 Jul 2016 16:02:13 +0000https://www.one.org/us/?p=131199At the core of ONE’s mission is the fight to eliminate extreme poverty, conquer preventable diseases and promote economic opportunities that will improve the lives of the world’s poorest people.

On July 5, the House passed H.R. 3766, the Foreign Aid Transparency and Accountability Act, by voice vote. FATAA is now on its way to the president for signature and enactment into law.

Over the past five years, ONE and other NGO partners have worked with Congressmen Ted Poe (R-TX) and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) as well as Senators Marco Rubio (R-FL) and Ben Cardin (D-MD) to address ways to overcome ongoing budget constraints by improving how the U.S. oversees and manages its foreign assistance programs. FATAA will subject all U.S. foreign assistance spending to greater oversight, accountability, and transparency, just as the title suggests. It ensures that lawmakers, NGOs, and the general public will have greater access to information related to foreign assistance programs, including expenditures, effectiveness, and other performance indicators. Such increased oversight encourages more effective and efficient use of scarce resources.

Specifically, the FATAA will:

1) Require the President of the United States to establish and implement monitoring and evaluation guidelines that are uniform across U.S. international development and economic assistance programs

3) Require the Secretary of State to ensure the ForeignAssistance.gov website contains detailed information regarding U.S. foreign assistance on a program-by-program and country-by-country basis that is updated quarterly.

It would further require that analysis be undertaken by the Government Accountability Office to inform Congress on relevant agencies’ adherence to these benchmarks.

Enactment of H.R. 3766 is a huge deal and will do much to improve the life-saving programs we support. A big thank you goes out to the bill’s sponsors, House and Senate staff, and the incredible NGO partners who worked side-by-side with ONE to make this happen.

Want to know how you can help next time? Check out our volunteer page to find an organizer near you!

When financial stories make the news, they usually come with a villain attached. People love the “Who” in the fight against corruption. Banks like Goldman Sachs become the Darth Vader of the financial crisis. Iceland’s Prime Minister Sigmundur David Gunnlaugsson gets ousted when his offshore deals appear in the Panama Papers.

It’s much harder, however, to tell a story about systemic problems—the “What” and the “How.”

When corruption relies on a tangle of fiscal flows, rules and entities (organizations as well as people), corruption fighters need ways to make that system a character in the story. That’s why the journalists who released the Panama Papers worked hard to create a visual layer for the connections between more than 200,000 offshore entities.

This matrix of connections, exploiting weaknesses in the financial system, is the real mechanism of corruption—and, potentially, the delivery system for better anti-corruption measures.

To support this week’s Anti-Corruption Summit in the United Kingdom, the World Bank is releasing an updated “Follow the Money” visual. The diagram is designed as a conceptual tool, deliberately simplified to illustrate multiple financial flows as a single system.

To help governments, advocates and journalists more easily explain financial systems, areas of corruption risk and points of possible intervention

To annotate financial flows with specific data sets and monitoring frameworks, per country or per methodology

To provide regulators and corruption-fighters with a common reference point to map their efforts, break down “silos” and strengthen cooperation

In recent months, we’ve worked with the Independent Reporting Mechanism of the Open Government Partnership, the ONE Campaign, and several others to show how different frameworks for transparency can be visualized as “layers” on top of the basic diagram.

Like the Linkurious tool used to display companies and individuals in the Panama Papers, the visual seeks “to make the data exploration accessible to non tech-savvy investigators.” We have begun by refining the “base map,” to confirm it works in multiple contexts before creating a version online. Looking ahead, we will be collaborating with designer John Emerson, participants from the Anti-Corruption Summit and the Panama Papers project, and colleagues from OGP and the Follow the Money Network to co-design an interactive, customizable visualization.

Jed Miller is a digital strategist on transparency and open data. Michael Jarvis is the Executive Director of the Transparency & Accountability Initiative.

Learn more about transparency, and join ONE to help us hold governments accountable and ensure resources are invested effectively for development.

]]>https://www.one.org/us/2016/05/13/to-tackle-corruption-target-systems-not-just-people/feed/05 simple changes that your government can make to make the world less corrupthttps://www.one.org/us/2016/05/11/5-simple-changes-that-your-government-can-make-to-make-the-world-less-corrupt/
https://www.one.org/us/2016/05/11/5-simple-changes-that-your-government-can-make-to-make-the-world-less-corrupt/#respondWed, 11 May 2016 18:41:54 +0000https://www.one.org/us/?p=130487By Sophie Taylor and Joseph Kraus, ONE Policy Officers — Transparency and Accountability

Unless you’ve been living in a yurt on a remote beach in the Cook Islands (one of the world’s most tax haven-y of tax havens), you’ve likely heard about the “Panama Papers” (*if not, scroll to the bottom for a quick recap).

The Panama Papers exposed just how widespread corruption is. It’s not limited to a handful of corrupt African or Latin American dictators, a la Hollywood’s depictions in Blood Diamond or The Last King of Scotland. Sure, there certainly are kleptocrats in the world, but they don’t dance alone – it takes two to tango.

Dressed in mock business suits, bowler and Panama hats, ONE Campaign activists dressed as faceless financiers mingled with commuters on London’s busy streets yesterday to draw attention to the International Anti-Corruption Summit being hosted by UK Prime Minister David Cameron later this week. (Photo credit: James Drew Turner)

Some of the money siphoned out of developing countries each year—more than $1 trillion according to ONE’s estimates—ends up in banks, real estate, sports cars, and artwork in the Global North. It doesn’t get there via teleportation. It relies on bankers, lawyers, accountants and other facilitators who unknowingly, or otherwise, help the corrupt launder their money to finance lives of luxury.

What can be done to address this problem? Here are five relatively simple changes that your government can make to make the world a less corrupt place:

Shine a light on anonymous shell companies: As noted above, the Panama Papers have revealed just how easy it is to set up a secret shell company to carry out questionable activities. By taking the simple step of exposing and ending anonymous shell companies and trusts, by publishing, online to everyone, the names of the people who own them, governments will increase their revenues, which could make a sizable contribution to the effort to end extreme poverty in Africa and beyond.

Make it harder for corrupt officials to live lives of luxury: Let’s face it, people steal money because they want to live a life of luxury. Governments should make corruption less comfortable – and thus less appealing – by making it harder for the corrupt to spend their ill-gotten gains on luxury goods. They could, for instance, ban visa requests from corrupt officials or prevent them from flying first class, or ensure that real estate and art transactions are fully transparent.

Photo credit: James Drew Turner

Hold the enablers of corruption accountable: Without help from bankers, lawyers, and accountants, corrupt officials and tax evaders would have a harder time spending their ill-gotten gains. At least $1 trillion gets siphoned out of developing countries each year due to shady or illegal activity. Doing business with corrupt officials should be considered a violation of anti-corruption laws, and those facilitators should be held individually accountable.

Make companies publish their tax information: Rich countries raised 34.1% of their GDP in taxes in 2011, while low-income countries raised only 13%, on average. This was not, primarily, because their tax rates are lower, but because so many individuals and firms living and doing business in developing countries avoid taxes, either illegally or through sophisticated accounting trickery that shift profits to tax havens. Requiring companies to publicly disclose key financial information in each country in which they operate would help crack down on this abuse. It’s a no-brainer that’s long overdue.

Publish government contracts: Globally, governments spend an estimated $9.5 trillion each year on goods and services. When governments keep contracts secret, as much as 25% of the money is lost to corruption.

Photo credit: James Drew Turner

* The Panama Papers is a global investigation into the vast, secretive offshore world that enables people to hide their assets and, in some instances, their illegal activity using shell companies and intricate accounting tricks. Based on more than 11 million leaked files – the largest data leak of its kind in the history of … ever, the investigation exposes how offshore companies can be used to facilitate bribery, arms deals, tax evasion, financial fraud and drug trafficking.

Learn more about transparency, and join ONE to help us hold governments accountable and ensure resources are invested effectively for development.

]]>https://www.one.org/us/2016/05/11/5-simple-changes-that-your-government-can-make-to-make-the-world-less-corrupt/feed/0We need YOU! Nominate activists and organizations that deserve an Honesty Oscarhttps://www.one.org/us/2016/01/14/we-need-you-nominate-activists-and-organizations-that-deserve-an-honesty-oscar/
https://www.one.org/us/2016/01/14/we-need-you-nominate-activists-and-organizations-that-deserve-an-honesty-oscar/#respondThu, 14 Jan 2016 14:24:35 +0000http://www.one.org/us/?p=128248The upcoming Academy Awards on Sunday, February 28, is a time to gather around the television and celebrate the cinematic achievements of the year. We figured it was about time we did the same for the inspiring activists, videos, photos, and songs that are helping to fight global corruption!

ONE and Accountability Lab are teaming up to host the 2016 Honesty Oscars, an event that honors groundbreaking organizations, activists, and creatives who make our world more transparent and hold our governments and corporations more accountable. (Read more about the 2014 and 2015events!)

And we need your help! In the comments below, nominate someone who think should win in one or more of the following categories:

Best Activist (Male and Female): Nominees should include men and women who have shown incredible leadership in the fight against global corruption. Do you have someone you would like to honor? Vote for one male and one female activist in the comments below!

Best Photo: Have you seen a photo this year so striking that you just had to take action? Submit nominees for photographs that were truly illuminating and/or inspiring.

Best Song or Activist Anthem: Like the Academy Awards’ “Best Original Song,” this category highlights original songs that have truly inspired audiences to learn about the fight against global corruption and join the movement, too.

Best Picture: Nominees should include feature films, short films, campaign films, or documentaries that highlight issues like corruption and transparency. Just like the Academy Awards, “Best Picture” honors all efforts in putting together the film, including writing, editing, directing, and execution.

Once Accountability Lab and ONE reveal the top nominees in February, readers (like YOU!) will get the chance to vote for their favorite. We’ll announce the winners on Monday, February 29.

Submit your nominees below and join us in February for the 3rd annual Honesty Oscars!

]]>https://www.one.org/us/2016/01/14/we-need-you-nominate-activists-and-organizations-that-deserve-an-honesty-oscar/feed/0#NoSecretDeals: Taking a final stand to root out corruptionhttps://www.one.org/us/2016/01/07/taking-a-final-stand-to-root-out-corruption/
https://www.one.org/us/2016/01/07/taking-a-final-stand-to-root-out-corruption/#respondThu, 07 Jan 2016 19:45:32 +0000http://www.one.org/us/?p=128184It was Christmas as usual this year in Equatorial Guinea, a small, oil-rich country on the west coast of Central Africa that boasts the world’s longest serving leader, President Teodoro Obiang, who has ruled for the past 36 years. Like in years past, Teodorín Obiang—President Obiang’s son as well as his hand-picked vice president—took to the streets with the purported mission of delivering toys and gifts to “every child in the country.”

Sounds generous, right? Sure, if you overlook the fact that most people in Equatorial Guinea live in abject poverty and lack access to basic social services, despite the country’s vast oil wealth. Or the fact that Teodorín has been repeatedly accused of massive corruption.

A map of Equatorial Guinea.

The US government, for instance, alleges that Teodorín spent more than $300 million on luxury goods around the world between 2000 and 2011 using money stolen from the people of Equatorial Guinea, including a $30 million Malibu mansion, a $38 million Gulfstream jet, and nearly $3 million on Michael Jackson memorabilia, including a diamond-studded glove from the Bad tour. (In an October 2014 settlement with the US Department of Justice, Obiang agreed to forfeit the mansion, a Ferrari, and some MJ memorabilia).

In 2012, French authorities seized Teodoro’s 101-room mansion in a chic Parisian neighborhood, along with millions of dollars of high-end artwork, furniture, and wine.

Meanwhile, in a country that boasts the highest per capita income in Africa, most citizens lack reliable access to electricity, drinking water, and health services.

Corruption is an all-too-familiar menace in the lives of most Africans. In an Afrobarometer survey of African citizens, 81 percent responded that they think at least some government officials are involved in corruption. An alarming 36 percent believe that most or all government officials are corrupt.

This is a particularly pernicious problem in countries with vast reserves of natural resources like oil and diamonds that generate lots of money for government officials to steal. The fact that most resource-rich governments are terribly non-transparent—and the oil and mining sectors are notoriously secretive—is a recipe for corruption.

Currently, it is difficult for citizens in many resource-rich countries to know how much their governments receive from the sale of natural resources, making it difficult to hold governments accountable for the use of that money. To end extreme poverty, citizens in poor countries need to be able to ensure that government revenue ends up in hospitals and schools and not the pockets of the criminal and corrupt.

That is why ONE is pressing governments to pass transparency laws that would make it more difficult for corrupt African government officials to steal money. One important step is to require oil, gas, and mining companies to report the payments they make to governments. This first, commonsensical, step toward greater transparency will help enable citizens in Africa and beyond to hold governments accountable for the ways in which money from oil and minerals get used.

The US passed such a law in 2010, demonstrating true global leadership in the fight against corruption. The European Union passed similar measures in 2013, and Canada followed suit in 2014. Sadly, some companies intent on preserving the status quo of secrecy have been shamelessly fighting to weaken the US’s law, which would make it less effective in stamping out corruption.

The offices of the US Securities and Exchange Commission. (Photo credit: WPPilot/Wikimedia Commons)

The US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) is currently working to implement the law (its first effort was derailed by a lawsuit brought by some oil companies in 2013). ONE, with your help, is pushing back against some companies’ brazen attempts to keep African citizens from accessing information critical to curbing corruption. We are calling on the SEC to say: #NoSecretDeals.

Jugbeh Kekula is a registered nurse at the Grand Bassa branch of the Liberian government hospital in Buchanan—about two hours drive east of the capital Monrovia. She is renowned in her community for her outreach at local markets.

“I became a nurse because I love the nursing profession,” she said. “I love serving humanity, I love helping to save lives one way or the other. I just love serving my nation, serving my people.”

And now, after a national competition searching for Liberia’s most honest government official, Jugbeh has been crowned the country’s first ever Integrity Idol.

The Integrity Idol finalists with the team from Accountability Lab. (Photo credit: Ben Cleeton)

Here at the Accountability Lab in Liberia we’ve been working on this campaign for the past few months—to replace a culture of “naming and shaming” with a movement to “name and fame” outstanding civil servants. The goal was to uncover the hidden heroes that embody personal responsibility, civic-mindedness, and accountability. Liberians responded in droves: More than 1,400 people nominated a civil servant who they believed should be the nation’s “Integrity Idol.”

The Lab then traveled to the farthest parts of the country, filming the contestants going about their daily duties and explaining why and how they serve the public with integrity. (Watch these incredible video clips here!)

Following a week and a half of voting by SMS and online, with the episodes shown on national TV and broadcast on community radio stations, Jugbeh was crowned Liberia’s first Integrity Idol yesterday in Monrovia.

As Blair Glencorse, our director at Accountability Lab noted, “The value of the movement is in the process, not the outcome. It celebrates individuals, but those that serve the collective good.”

In a country where corruption is often seen to be insurmountable—a recent Transparency International Report on corruption noted that Liberians pay more bribes than anyone else in Africa—Integrity Idol became a critical outlet for a national conversation in positive terms about the role that individuals can play in changing their society.

The Integrity Idol ceremony itself included everything from traditional Liberian dancing, speeches by a Minister and prominent local lawyer, a musical interlude from a local rapper, and—in keeping with Liberian tradition—the award of a chicken to Jugbeh as her prize.

The campaign is already beginning to show real impact. District education officer Oliver Kuson—a finalist who has not been paid for his services by the government in seven years—was promised his payroll would be rectified by an official in the crowd! The other finalists have begun to brainstorm on how they can build networks of integrity in their communities, and how they can make sure the momentum of the competition endures. And the local and international media have taken note—allowing these Integrity Idols to set an example not just here in Liberia, but around the world.

For the Accountability Lab, this is just the beginning. Over time, the idea is to build a community of local government do-gooders with integrity across Liberia and the world. They can share lessons, collaborate on ideas and push for reforms. In the end, transparency and accountability start with all of us—and it is these previously unknown heroes who show us how it is done!

When President Obama arrives in Kenya on Friday morning, he will take another important step in an evolution of U.S. policy toward the African continent.

Aid has for too long been the center of American foreign policy toward Africa and, as the challenges and opportunities on the continent change, so must the United States’ policies and perspectives.

While traditional development assistance must remain a significant part of America’s engagement with African countries, it can’t be the only part of that engagement. President Obama’s most lasting Africa policy legacy should be a new focus on partnership — economic, security, and developmental — more reflective of modern Africa.

In 2006, before he was President, Mr. Obama visited Kenya and is seen here with Kenya’s Nobel Laureate Wangari Maathai.

The White House is trying to cast this visit in that way, rather than as a moment of cultural exploration around the return of the President to his father’s country. Will this approach be the new ‘normal?’

That depends. Much coverage of the President’s trip will properly focus on Ethiopia’s politics and its restrictions on civil society, individuals and the media. We’ll hear plenty, too, about Kenya’s long battle with corruption. In both cases, the President is expected to address the issues directly in his meetings with leaders. But just as important is the message President Obama sends back to Americans about the importance of Africa to the future of the United States.

Six of the world’s 10 fastest-growing economies in the world are in Africa (with 9.5 percent GDP growth, Ethiopia is actually the fastest). The continent’s energy and mineral resources are vast and play a significant role in global markets. Threats against the United States, its allies, and its interests have also given it a stake in the security challenges posed by Boko Haram, al Shabaab, and other radical groups. Half of the population of sub-Saharan Africa is under 25 years old, forcing a host of questions about their economic future and what role American businesses will play in it.

These realities have meant that the Obama Administration has had to take a more sophisticated approach to America’s policy toward Africa, focusing the sources of challenges rather than just the symptoms.

It’s not an accident that the centerpiece of President Obama’s time in Kenya will be the Global Entrepreneurship Summit, an annual event he founded six years ago to drive economic innovation and harness the incredible entrepreneurial spirit of this tech-savvy generation of Africans. His Young African Leaders Initiative is working directly with the most promising of those young people to empower them to strengthen their communities and countries.

People taking part in the Young African Leaders Inititiave town hall raise their hands in agreement. Photo: White House

President Obama supported a 10-year reauthorization of AGOA, the U.S. trade preference program with sub-Saharan Africa, to continue trying to accelerate the development of middle classes in African countries.

His Power Africa initiative ambitiously aims to get electricity to millions of people on the continent for the first time – a resource that impacts nearly every other area of human development, from education and health, to jobs and growth.

NASA Image of the African continent at night showing how little electrification there is.

He has publicly addressed corruption and the lack of transparency with African leaders, and helped push important legislation requiring transparency in the extractive sector.

President Obama has continued and expanded President Bush’s signature initiatives on health. Today, nearly 11 million Africans have access to life-saving AIDS treatment and eight African countries have cut malaria by 75 percent or more, thanks in large part to U.S. support for PEPFAR, the Global Fund, and the President’s Malaria Initiative. With bipartisan support, the U.S. has dramatically expanded its investments in childhood vaccines through Gavi, and U.S. leadership in response to the ongoing Ebola outbreak has been pivotal in mobilizing a meaningful global response.

President Obama has put food security on the global agenda, from a standing start in 2009. Globally, assistance for agricultural development had declined from a peak of $10 billion in 1988 to about $4 billion in the early 2000’s. President Obama’s Feed the Future initiative pushed agricultural development and food security back onto the global agenda and contributed to a decrease of 167 million people suffering from chronic hunger.

These are all elements of the kind of targeted approach that must govern U.S. policy toward Africa. Instead of only providing the water to put out fires, the U.S. must also work with African leaders to prevent fires from starting in the first place.

Partnership is the future of the U.S. relationship with the African continent. The unglamorous, in-the-weeds agenda for President Obama’s visit to Kenya and Ethiopia this week is a good sign that such a change is already under way.

Closing ceremony of a successful collaborative capacity building program between the US and Ghana.

Keeping track of financial information isn’t most people’s idea of a fun time. Perhaps that explains why people enjoy making jokes about accounting (“It’s accrual world.” or “Why did the accountant cross the road? To bore the people on the other side.”).

But when we’re talking about foreign assistance, keeping track of where money goes is critically important. Being able to see how much money donors are contributing to various countries and projects enables citizens to press their governments to use that money effectively. It enables other donors to see what others have already spent and identify and fill remaining gaps.

In short, aid transparency helps ensure that every single aid dollar is used to save or improve lives.

Photo by Jonathan Torgovnik/Reportage by Getty Images

That’s why ONE works closely with groups like Publish What You Fund, Oxfam and the Modernizing Foreign Assistance Network (MFAN) to press the US government (and others) to be transparent about the money it provides to developing countries.

So just how is our government doing? A recent event to launch Publish What You Fund’s 2015 US Aid Transparency Review – a mid-year assessment of US agencies’ performance on aid transparency – provided an opportunity to hear about the progress various US agencies are making to track their foreign assistance dollars.

To date, there has been uneven progress across US agencies, with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) being the head of the class, USAID, PEPFAR and the State Department making recent improvements, and the Treasury Department and the Department of Defense lagging behind, according to Publish What You Fund’s analysis.

Water pump in Ghana provided by USAID

And how did the agencies react to the report’s findings? Read what their representatives had to say in their own words at the event (along with some added context from us, in italics).

In 2013, MCC was ranked #1 in the Aid Transparency Index, and slipped to #3 in 2014. However, MCC remains a “trail-blazer” relative to other efforts (especially with respect to gender-disaggregated data) and is committed to doing even better, planning to publish sub-national aid data to IATI standards by the end of 2015.

“I respect a pitcher who can bring the heat” – Larry McDonald, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Technical Assistance Policy, Department of the Treasury

Mr. McDonald seemed to appreciate the event’s spirited debate, and stressed that the Treasury Department had made improvements in its aid reporting and pledged that “we are going to do better.”

“Transparency is something we take very seriously at the State Department.” – Hari Sastry, Director, Office of U.S. Foreign Assistance Resources, State Department

The State Department made modest progress according to Publish What You Fund’s analysis, and the agency is undertaking a review of its systems to map out the challenges and work toward solutions.

But US agencies’ willingness to be transparent makes no impact in a vacuum—it’s the real-world application of transparent data that can make a difference for development partners on the ground. The event’s final panelist, Emmanuel Abdulai—the Executive Director of Society for Democratic Initiatives in Sierra Leone—really helped bring things to life, describing what transparency (or lack thereof) means for him and colleagues. “During the Ebola crisis, lack of information led to aid duplication. The government [of Sierra Leone] didn’t know who was doing what and where,” he said.

Rupert Simons, the CEO of Publish What You Fund, underscored Emmanuel’s point: “When working on Ebola, people couldn’t keep track of where ambulances were or who was responsible for taking care of them.” As ONE recently highlighted, the lack of donor transparency during the Ebola crisis has been frustratingly similar to what happened following the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami and the 2010 Haiti earthquake.

USAID provides Ugandan students with backpacks and other educational materials.

All of the US agencies recommitted to working with Publish What You Fund and partners to improve their scores and their overall transparency. But what really matters, at the end of the day, is how well that is translated from numbers on a page to usable data in the field that can power the work of partners like Emmanuel. At ONE, we look forward to working with governments to make sure that data is helping generate results on-the-ground.

We live in a world where millions of people matter so little that they are uncounted. Their births are not recorded; they can’t access basic healthcare, enough food or an education. This year we expect ambitious new global goals to end extreme poverty, but if we don’t deal with the crisis of inadequate data for monitoring and achieving the goals, we can’t have full accountability or a clear picture of progress. Fixing it needs political support, funding and practical action.

So this week, at the Financing for Development Conference, we are working with governments, businesses and citizen’s groups, including the governments of Mexico, Senegal, Kenya, Belgium and the United States, the World Bank Group, CIVICUS, and Mastercard, to launch a new drive to address the data crisis.

It can be a life and death issue. Countries with strong birth registration systems have low maternal mortality. Children registered at birth are more likely to be immunised. Proof of age enables prosecution of perpetrators of crimes against children, such as child trafficking, sexual offences, early recruitment into the armed forces, child marriage, and child labour.

The ONE Campaigns FFD Event in Addis Ababa

At a high energy #DATARevolution event on the margins of the UN Financing for Development Summit, wide-ranging commitments – including funding pledges, the opening up of valuable data sets, technological innovation and analytic support – will be made by global governments and businesses as the first step in a major drive to address the data crisis.

We will launch the ‘Follow the Money’ portal, a one-stop-shop for the best stories of citizens using data to track corruption, advocate for better budget allocations, and make sure public money gets to where it is most needed!

Companies that launch satellites into space to monitor crop yield, mobile phone companies, governments and civil society have all joined this effort to create a more transparent and accountable sustainable development agenda.

And these commitments are just the start. More than 20 international organisations have also committed to be champions for the formation of a Global Partnership on Sustainable Data, to be launched in September 2015.

Together we are launching something that could mean everyone is counted!

Follow the #DATARevolution Twitter feed to keep up to date with the event and see the commitments that are pledged.